ESRS 2012
ESRS 2012 Summer School
Rural 
– urban relationship revisited
The Summer School of the European Society for Rural Sociology will be organized August 19th – 26th 2012 in Ristiina, a small municipality near Mikkeli city, in Eastern Finland. The Summer School is targeted to doctoral students who are in different phases of writing their thesis on rural issues in European context.
This year’s theme of the Summer School takes into focus transformations of social and ecological spaces in the context of rural−urban interfaces. The purpose of this theme is to map old and new approaches to research on rural issues, rural-urban governance and socio-ecological relationships, and to find theoretical and analytical ways to move beyond traditional rural and rural-urban perspectives. From this offset, the School will concentrate on the themes, which are relevant for accepted participants, which might handle rural transformations and development, food systems, animals and ecosystems, multicultural countryside and spatial governance, among others.
The working methods of the summer school
The Summer School will first and foremost support scientific efforts of the participating students. To this purpose, the School will offer lectures on the central themes of the Summer School. Students’ own presentations are commented and discussed in seminars, and each of them is also separately supervised by a tutor. In addition, the students will acquaint themselves with rural development aspects and challenges in the surrounding region, South Savo, including a one-day field trip. See detailed programme.
Qualifications required
The School welcomes participants from different disciplines, with an orientation to rural issues, for instances in sociology, anthropology, history, geography, political studies, agricultural policy, or economics. The summer school is open to PhD students at any stage of their PhD studies. The School is oriented especially to studies of European countryside. In the selection process, the priority is given to students affiliated with some European university. All participants are expected to attend the whole Summer School week, August 19th – 26th 2012.
The summer school requires an application in the form of an abstract (300-500 words; 1,5 space), along with the application form, submitted to the organizers by March 15th 2012. The abstract and the application form can be sent from https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/30017/lomake.html
Short recommendation by the supervisor (optional) can be emailed to eeva.uusitalo@helsinki.fi
Costs
Full-board and accommodation will be offered during the school in Hotel Heimari as well as free of charge transportation from Mikkeli to hotel Heimari and during the excursion day. However, the students have to cover their own travel costs from their home to and from Mikkeli.
European Society for Rural Sociology: http://www.ruralsociology.eu/
University of Helsinki, Ruralia Institute: http://www.helsinki.fi/ruralia/index_eng.htm